Road to Secession

Summary: When Missouri applied to be a slave state in the Union in 1818, at that time there were equal amounts of 11 slave and 11 free states. This meant that Missouri joining either side would upset the balance of power in the Senate because that side would have a majority, which meant more power. Then Senator Henry Clay suggested that Congress admit Missouri as a slave state and admit Maine as a free state into the Union. In 1820, the Senate also added that “slavery would be banned in all of the former Louisiana Purchase lands north of an imaginary line drawn at 36º 30’ latitude..." . This meant the bill prohibited slavery anywhere north of the 36th parallel. Then on March 3, the bill was passed by the House and signed into action by President James Monroe 4 days later.

Northern Perspective: The North strongly disapproved of slavery and in general just didn’t want it to spread. They also feared that the South would control the Senate and that this would eventually lead to slavery in the new states being admitted to the Union.

Southern Perspective: The South opposed the compromise because it banned slavery North of a certain line, they also argued that new states should be given the choice to permit slavery or not.

Summary: The Annexation of Texas was when the Republic of Texas agreed to join the United States, on December 29, 1845. Texas officially became the 28th state of America! The state actually used to belong to Mexico and it’s capital, Austin was named after a father and son who led the way for American settlers to move into Texas. In 1836, they declared their independence from Mexico because of disagreement over strict laws. They fought for their independence after a famous battle at the Alamo and won. Then president James K. Polk agreed to annex Texas. This actually caused an argument with Mexico since they disagreed over the boundaries of Mexico.

Northern Perspective: Northerners were against slavery and wanted colored people to be free. Judging from this they weren’t as fond of the annexation because this would bring more slavery.

Southern Perspective: Southereners knew the annexation of Texas would bring more slavery so their perspective was in favor.

Summary: Right after Texas was annexed into the states, the US fought a war with Mexico because they wouldn't sell California to us. The war lasted from 1846-1847 with Americans winning the war. The Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty ended the war and gave the U.S. land that consists of California, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. A dispute once again rose on whether they should be free or slave states. This is when the Compromise of 1850 was born. The compromise gave us 5 major points, the points are that California would be a free state, the new states (Utah and New Mexico) would decide by popular sovereignty, the slave trade in DC would be outlawed, the Texas northern border was also set, and last but not least there would be a stricter fugitive slave law.

Northern Perspective: Northerners were quite happy that California joined as a free state because this balanced the Senate. However, the majority of the North strongly disagreed with the fugitive slave law because it basically meant a slave could be in a free state and still be sent back to slavery.

Southern Perspective: Southerners weren’t pleased with California coming in as free soil because slavery was their main source of income. The South was also ready to enforce the fugitive slave act with more strictness.

Summary: Uncle Tom's Cabin is an anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It caused a bunch of popularity and favoritism among the whites in the North because Stowe's novel explained her slavery experience first hand and showed just how brutal it was. In the 19th century around 300,000 copies were sold in the US.

Northern Perspective: Many Northeners actually didn’t know how brutal slavery was and had never witnessed it first hand. The novel created more sympathy for runaway slaves and spread more feelings of the abolitionists.

Southern Perspective: The South was quite offended since it showed how bad their society and culture was and claimed the novel as “fake news”.

Summary: As the Nebraska Territory was propsed to divide into 2 states, dispute rose over the issue of slavery. The US at that time had equal amounts of slave and free states, if there was one more than the other this meant one side could potentially have more power. The Senator, Stephen Douglas, decided that each territory would decide about slavery by popular soverienty. Popular sovereignty is the idea of the people deciding. This caused a lot of outrage and fighting between the North and the South, that eventually led to the name “Bleeding Kansas”. Both North and Southerners moved in to secure their vote.

Northern Perspective: Northerners were moving into the states to secure their votes because they did not want another slave state.

Southern Perspective: A lot of southerners moved into the states to also secure their vote and in an attempt to turn Kansas into a slave state they brought forth lots of violence. They were known as border ruffians.

Summary: Dred Scott was a slave that lived with his owner for some time in the free state of Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory before going back to the slave state of Missouri. When his owner died he sued the court with his case claiming that since he resided in a free state he should now be free. His case was brought to the Supreme Court, which was shut down for these reasons. By a vote of 7 to 2, the Supreme Court first claimed that since he was an African American slave he could not be a citizen. This meant that Scott wasn’t even allowed to sue in a court of law. Then the Supreme Court also claimed that whatever freedom Scott had with him was gone when he left the state. To sum it up, the Supreme Court basically claimed that Dred Scott could not be a citizen, which meant he didn’t have rights, and so he could not sue. The decision of the court created further tensions between the states and eventually led to the civil war because it caused fighting between them.

Northern Perspective: Northerners were very angry since they had banned slavery, but then the decision of the Dred Scott case allowed slaves to be brought into their states.

Southern Perspective: Southerners were filled with delight as this means the states in the Union were now open for slavery, and they could basically bring slaves there.

Summary: John Brown was a fierce northerner who tried to lead a slave revolt. In 1859, he carried his antislavery campaign (21 men, including his two sons) from Kansas to East, and led a group of followers to Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He planned to give the African Americans weapons by robbing a federal arsenal and lead them in a revolt. As a result, John Brown was captured at Harpers Ferry and many of his men were killed. John Brown was tried for murder and treason.

Northern Perspective: Brown became a hero to many Northerners because of his great dignity and even praised him with songs.

Southern Perspective: The Southerners thought the Northerner's response to his death was outrageous, and many Southerners were convinced the North wanted to destroy slavery and the South along with it.

Summary: In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 19th president of the United States. He represented the Republican party and was a huge abolitionist who disapproved of slavery greatly. With this, Lincoln also won as president without a single vote from the South. The southerners didn’t even have him on their ballot! As a result of this, future amendments and big decisions could be passed with absolutely no say in the South. This brought forth many concerns to the South.

Northern Perspective: Northerns were very supportive and glad that they had a president who was anti-slavery, and they hoped he would follow along to his plan.

Southern Perspective: Southerners were very upset because if a president could pass without a single vote from them this could apply to future amendments and big decisions in Congress. This election caused many southerners to grow weary of their power in Congress, staying in the South, and their pro-slavery beliefs due to favoring and the increasing population of the North.

Summary: South Carolina was the first state to secede from the USA and to become an independent state. As the election in 1860 was settled and the newly announced President would be Lincoln this caused a lot of fear and worry in the South. President Abraham Lincoln wasn’t even on the Southern ballot. This just shows that in the future decisions and important amendments could be passed with no southern opinion in congress. So, South Carolina acted first calling for a convention to secede from the Union. Conventions were held and then state by state the confederacy was formed. 7 states had already within 3 months of Lincoln’s election.

Northern Perspective: They knew that with the recent election of Lincoln the South declaring war wasn’t unexpected, but they were surprised when South Carolina declared a secession.

Southern Perspective: The South knew that due to the recent election of Lincoln slavery would soon come to an end. Most of the South’s income came from slavery (made money from the crops). They were also quite worried that future amendments and decisions would pass without their opinion. Therefore in order to preserve slavery, they left the USA to form the CSA.